KEVIN DE BRUYNE hopes a season of personal misery will end in glory for him and Manchester City.
Last term’s City player of the year cut an isolated figure this campaign — fighting back from a string of setbacks.
KDB has started only 18 matches in all competitions after suffering two serious knee injuries and a hamstring problem.
Long spells on the sidelines were so tough on the £54million ace, who was pivotal to Pep Guardiola’s ‘Centurions’ in 2017-18 as City stormed to the title with a record 100 points.
This time he will almost be gate-crashing the party, with his team-mates eyeing an historic Quadruple over the next few weeks.
Yet he is determined to do everything he can to help them — starting in today’s FA Cup semi-final against Brighton at Wembley.
De Bruyne, 27, said: “The season is what it is. Last year, I could do it every three days for almost 60 or 70 games.
“I can’t reach that tally anymore but I’ll give everything I have. Hopefully, in the end, we can lift a few titles.
“It’s like 12 or 13 cup games now. It makes it exciting. In the end maybe we lose everything — but at least we are here at this stage.
“It’s been incredible, so just keep on going, try to win Saturday and hopefully go to another final.”
NEW SIGNING
Belgian KDB is almost like a new signing for boss Guardiola and should at least be fresh for what could be an unforgettable run-in.
Yet the midfielder says his long road to recovery felt like it was never going to end.
After today, De Bruyne and Co travel to Tottenham on Tuesday for the first leg of an epic Champions League quarter-final.
And the Belgian superstar said: “I feel my season had double the length of other players.
“Every time you need to be in, you need to make almost double the hours. You never have a day off as you need to work on your recovery. It’s more draining than actually playing. I have had to come back three or four times now.
“Hopefully, I will be fine until the end of the season.”
With the Carabao Cup already in the bag, the FA Cup may be seen as the least important of the three remaining trophies for City.
Yet apart from Vincent Kompany and David Silva, none of the current squad have ever lifted the famous old trophy — which they last won in 2011.
ADD THE FA CUP
And De Bruyne said: “I’ve not been there yet, I’ve not won it. So it would be nice to go to the final and compete for a title.
“We just have to win one game and then you can rest the FA Cup until the end of the season.
“It’s true we’ve been a lot — but everybody enjoys Wembley. I’d prefer to be there loads than not.”
De Bruyne is coming to the end of his fourth season at the Etihad and the fact they are now chasing for all four trophies shows how far Manchester City have come.
He added: “I think it’s important to show you want to compete for every title. It is tough and to do it you need everything.
“You need a bit of luck, good form and you need to play well.
“We did that for the last few years and it’s good to see that everyone is competing at a high level.”
City fans were drooling over De Bruyne’s display in Wednesday’s completely one-sided 2-0 win over Cardiff.
I don’t know what my level is going to be but I don’t really care. Now it’s the business end, I just need to do what I can to help.
Kevin De Bruyne
He settled any nerves with an early goal to help boost their Prem title charge.
But KDB has warned them they may not see the best of him again until next season.
Asked if he would be firing on all cylinders for the run-in, De Bruyne said: “Probably not. Not compared with last year.
“I don’t know what my level is going to be but I don’t really care. Now it’s the business end, I just need to do what I can to help.”
KDB will be hoping Sergio Aguero recovers from his own injury problems to play today.
The Argentine, who leads the Prem scoring chats with 19, missed the Cardiff game after a muscle issue against Fulham.
Aguero did travel with the squad to London — and Guardiola will leave it until the last minute before deciding whether to play him.
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Benjamin Mendy may also be needed after a hamstring injury to Alex Zinchenko on Wednesday.
The injury-plagued French left-back has played only 20 minutes of football in five months.
But Guardiola said: “He’s trained the last week or ten days without a problem — incredibly good news. Everybody has to help us.”
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News Photo Kevin De Bruyne desperate to put injuries behind him to play part in Man City’s Quadruple run-in
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